Surname meaning for "Benjamin"

Jewish, English, French, and Hungarian (

Benjámin): from
the Hebrew male personal name Binyamin ‘Son of the South’. In
the Book of Genesis, it is treated as meaning ‘Son of the Right
Hand’. The two senses are connected, since in Hebrew the south is
thought of as the right-hand side of a person who is facing
east. Benjamin was the youngest and favorite son of Jacob and supposed
progenitor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel (Genesis 35:16–18;
42:4). It is rare as an English and French surname; the personal name
was not common among Gentiles in the Middle Ages, but its use was
sanctioned by virtue of having been borne by a saint martyred in
Persia in about ad 424. In some cases in medieval Europe it
was also applied as a byname or nickname to the youngest (and beloved)
son of a large family; this is the sense of modern French
benjamin.
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